Mobile Positioning System (MPS) helps a service provider to tailor content to meet users' needs. It brings information on the location of a user's mobile device to existing mobile applications, which enables the service provide to adapt services on the basis of the location of the device. It interacts with its clients using defined and secure interfaces. MPS at least comprise a Gateway Positioning Center (GMPC) and a Location Services (LCS) client. In addition, MPS utilizes network features in core and radio network nodes, such as Home Location Register (HLR), Mobile Switching Center (MSC) and Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN).
MPS normally have support for Control Plane (CP) positioning architecture in GSM (Global System for Mobile communication), WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) mobile networks. In the CP positioning architecture, the GMLC first needs to query a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) to get a serving Mobility Management Entity (MME) name. The GMLC then send a request to the MME. This is illustrated in FIG. 1. Details of the diagram in FIG. 1 can be retrieved from 3GPP 23.271 and will therefore not be described any further in this patent application.
To retrieve information of the serving MME and International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) from the HSS, it is required that the HSS supports the SLh interface between the HSS and the GMLC. As the SLh interface has limited use and business value relative other interfaces to the HSS it is likely that support of SLh will be lacking when a service provider wants to deploy a MPS system. It may also be the case that the HSS is not supported.